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Lost XP user accounts

hockeydad04

Posted 25 May 2006 - 08:40 AM

hockeydad04

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Member

12 posts

Greetings- I was referred here by another forum I post on.

I was setting up a new user account and my main admin account seemed to have been assumed by another. I can't get to it other than safe mode. Is there a way to bring it back? System restore doesn't work for some reason even is safemode.

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gerryf

Posted 30 May 2006 - 08:13 AM

hockeydad04

Posted 01 June 2006 - 01:28 PM

hockeydad04

Member

Topic Starter

Member

12 posts

i do not understand what you mean assumed by another?

What version of XP, home or retail

thanks.

I have XP Pro 2002 SP2

It seems that my original user account was deleted from anything other than safe mode. The new account I set up took all of the properties of the original ie. all files have the new account name as owner, even the owner of Outlook changed. I had to really tramp through the hard drive to get the files since they were no longer associated with anything familiar. Is there a way to get the original user info out of safe mode and remove the unwanted accounts? Sorry if I am confusing this. I think it was just a case of me not choosing a correct action and making a totally new administrator account that passworded everything.

gerryf

Posted 02 June 2006 - 06:54 AM

hockeydad04

Posted 02 June 2006 - 06:58 AM

hockeydad04

Member

Topic Starter

Member

12 posts

ok, but you say you can get to the old account in safe mode????

yup. I was able to export my important Outlook info by saving to the hard drive then importing. I figured that there has to be a way to "revive" the old account from safe mode- I'm usually wrong though It was quite a hassle.

gerryf

Posted 02 June 2006 - 07:02 AM

hockeydad04

Posted 02 June 2006 - 07:28 AM

hockeydad04

Member

Topic Starter

Member

12 posts

The old account is only available in safe mode. That one and the main administrator account that I use now.
I copied/saved to the Hard Disk under the administrator files from safe mode then restarted and opened those files to transfer the info. There is no sign of that account anywhere other than safe mode. That's what has me baffled.

gerryf

Posted 02 June 2006 - 07:56 AM

I must just be dumb...I am having a horrible time visualizing your issue

The folders within c:\documents and settings

should correspond to a profile

ADMINISTRATOR, is of course the built in administrator account

All USERS is used by all users on a PC as the name implies (want a shortcut for everyone, drop it in the

ALL USERS desktop folder)

DEFAULT USER is the template for new users when they are created

{user profile name} are the individual profles of each user added

GUEST is the guest account, of course. Many people disable the guest account and do not have that folder

You say you can access the old account, but what exactly are you accessing? What folder group did you drag files out of?

When you say MAIN ADMIN account, what are you referring to?

Let's back up for a second.

Unless you elect to show the administrator account on the User Account selection window, it will not show except in safe mode. Is that what you mean? It should never have shown, unless you edited the registry to allow it. And it would only disappear if you re-edited the registry, or experienced a registry corruption

To show the admin account on the welcome screen, download the following, extract, double click, and say yes to merging with the registry

gerryf

Posted 02 June 2006 - 10:25 AM

gerryf

Retired Staff

Retired Staff

11,365 posts

When you click the account, there is no DELETE function? (you have to be in a different account, go to users, double click the icon for the account you wish to delete and the last entry should be delete)